Balancing Ambition and Pragmatism for the Digital Single Market

The Strategy for a Digital Single Market is one of the most important drivers of EU-integration in the Single Market within this decade. More than two years have lapsed since the inception of the program in May 2015: does the strategy hold up to its promises?

The Strategy for a Digital Single Market is one of the most important drivers of EU-integration in the Single Market within this decade. Numerous regulations and processes have to be adapted to the internet age. More than two years have lapsed since the inception of the program in May 2015 – time for an interim conclusion: Does the strategy hold up to its promises?

In this policy paper, Paul-Jasper Dittrich, research fellow at the Jacques Delors Institut – Berlin, draws a critical balance of the strategy to date and offers concrete proposals for those policy areas that are indispensable for a real Digital Single Market: cyber security, platform regulation and the “free flow of data”.